Rankin, Mary-Eileen Rankin
(2015)
Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother?: Mothers and Witches in Harry Potter.
Undergraduate thesis,
under the direction of Mary Hayes from
English,
The University of Mississippi.

Abstract

This thesis aims to analyze the importance of maternal nurture and the “witches as mothers” trope in the Harry Potter series. This nurture is traditional as well as perverse and appears in characters besides the adult women. Rowling creates characters who appeal to paradigms of the Early Modern “bad mother” witch who harmed children among other accusations associated with female sexuality and motherhood. Additionally, Rowling challenges the negative stereotype of associating witches and bad mothering by presenting witches as “good mothers.” The power of maternal nurture in the series is best seen through the good mothers. This theme plays such a significant role that it even presents itself in “non-mothers” like men and children.